The REAL Guardian of the Hunt
by TheSilverboar
Summary: I'm sure you've all heard about the basic 'Percy becomes guardian of the hunt' story right? If you've read them then you probably know all about the cliches that are used in just about every one. Well I can't stand a lot of them so I'm making this story to blow those cliches out of the water. Pairing: Percy/Hecate/Thalia/Khione/Reyna/Hestia
1. Chapter 1

**AN: You've all seen those 'Percy becomes Guardian of the Hunt' stories right? The ones where he allows the hunters to run all over him, attack him, abuse him, and do all kinds of things without any response for months or even a year? Well I hate that crap. He's supposed to be their guardian, not their slave. So I decided to write a story about the REAL Guardian of the Hunt should be.**

The REAL Guardian of the Hunt

-Percy-

Leaning against a column he watched Zeus and Artemis arguing in the throne Room while Apollo tried to get involved and the Hunters stood off to the side looking rather awkward. The reason for the argument was the fact that the Hunt had nearly been destroyed by a large horde of Monsters in close combat and he was the only reason they were alive. While Artemis and her Hunters were great, well, Hunters, they weren't the best at close combat, apart from Thalia who was the only one trained for it. The only reason he was even near the hunt was that he had been heading to meet Thalia so she could join him, Nico, Jason, and Hazel for a night out between the group of big three cousins and to celebrate Jason turning twenty one. He had mist traveled to a hill a ways away from the camp only to see the Minatour about to behead Thalia with its giant axe causing him to shoot a spear of frozen water at the bull headed beast, getting the monster's attention, before he went to work and destroyed them.

Now he was on Olympus where Apollo, Thalia, and Zeus wanted him rewarded for what happened while Artemis and the rest of her hunters wanted him punished for 'interfering with the hunt' and 'trespassing in Hunter territory'. Sending a text on his celestial bronze cell phone, Leo had discovered that the metal prevented monsters from finding the signal, he told his cousins about what was going on and how he and Thalia wouldn't be able to make it, causing them to shadow travel in via Nico and Hazel.

"Hey guys," he said happily as he gave Hazel a big hug and gave Nico and Jason 'bro' hugs "what's going on?".

"We couldn't just leave you all alone up here man." Jason said rolling his eyes before wincing "Well…that and Annabeth showed up at the Bar.".

Sighing he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "What's my Ex doing now?" he asked exasperated "Hitting on one of you guys, trying to find a way to get back with me, or just hunting around for anybody looking to go out with her?".

"Door number two." Nico snorted "She may be intelligent but the girl doesn't have an ounce of common sense in that skull of hers. She decided to move on when Hera had your ass taking a nap here on Olympus before the Giant War and can't seem to understand that you've moved on as well.".

"Well," he admitted sheepishly "it did take Leo, Calypso, and freaking Festus to drag me back out of my moping funk…quite literally.".

Hazel giggled at that "It was quite the sight," she admitted "watching Leo, who we all thought was dead, riding into camp on a completely restored Festus, Calypso in his lap, and you tied up and dangling underneath Festus' bronze belly…even Chiron couldn't stop laughing.".

"I still don't think that it's fair that I only got three months of moping in before I was Leo-napped." He grumbled with a smirk.

That got a laugh out of Nico and Jason while Hazel rolled her eyes, muttering "Ugh, Boys." Under her breath fondly as they noticed Thalia walking over.

"Hey," he said happily as he pulled her into a hug "the gang's all here.".

"They make a decision?" Jason asked his sister, pointing to the trio of gods.

At that question Thalia took on a stormy countenance "Well Artemis agreed to not punish Percy so long as Zeus doesn't give him a reward for rescuing us…Dad and Apollo spoke in my mind and said that they'll be rewarding him unofficially with a few 'gifts'.".

"So what are they still arguing about?" Nico asked confused.

"Dad is trying to figure out how to prevent me and the rest of the hunters from entering a situation that will get us killed again." Thalia said exasperatedly "I've been trying to get the others to train in close combat for years but they're too stubborn, insisting that hunters don't need close combat.".

"What's he gonna do though," he asked with a snort "assign the hunt a guardian that can handle those situations?".

His cousins laughed at the idea, not noticing the trio of gods and the hunters had stopped their argument and were listening in on them "Well anyway," Hazel said, shaking her head "how have you guys been?".

"Pretty good," Jason said with a shrug "I'm still working hard on getting all the temples built for all the gods at the different camps as Pontifex Maximus and even got a visit from Kymopoleia a few weeks ago.".

"How is my big sis?" he asked happily, having actually gotten along pretty well with Kymopoleia after he had begun causing sea storms when he needed to blow off steam.

"Still good, still sadistic." Jason chuckled "But while my job keeps me pretty busy I still love it. It and Piper always make sure my life is interesting.".

"I started working in my father's court," Nico admitted sheepishly "I keep the minor underworld gods and goddesses, as well as the court, under control but still try to head to camp as much as I can to visit everybody.".

"Forced to deal with that jackass Minos for eternity?" he asked aghast "You poor, poor, bastard.".

"Well while my brother is forced to deal with Minos," Hazel said with a smirk, cutting of Nico before a full scale big three argument could start "I'm still at college in New Rome and actually doing pretty well along with Frank.".

"And we all know I'm still babysitting the hunters," Thalia chuckled before they all turned towards him "but what about you Percy? You already graduated college at New Rome, we know you're not dating anybody, but that's about it.".

"I haven't really decided yet," he said shrugging "I was thinking though of getting a ship, maybe a pirate ship like the one I had in the Sea of Monsters, and just sail around the world for a while, maybe find some sunken pirate ships with treasure," at this point he winced "due to all the times my quests had me labelled as undesirable number one, even if I was cleared, it's been all but impossible to find a job and even after I get one it doesn't last long due to either monsters or the customers recognize me and freak out.".

"Well why don't you become the Hunt's guardian Perseus." A voice called from across the room, causing him to spin around and gape at Zeus who was smirking at him along with Apollo while Artemis and her hunters glared furiously at the king of Olympus.

"Uuuuum," he said slowly "Uncle say what now?".

Rolling his eyes Zeus continued "You don't' have a job currently, or any specific Camp Duties that require you to be at either of the camps constantly. You are the best demigod currently alive at close combat as well as having extraordinarily strong powers and control over said powers. You would do well as their guardian if the Hunt is ambushed like this again.".

"No Father!" Aretmis yelled angrily "I refuse to have a guardian at all, let alone a _male _guardian.".

"It's Percy!" Zeus and Apollo chorused exasperatedly, as if that ended the entire argument.

"Um, Uncle." He called out, gaining the gods' attention "Are you sure this is a good idea? I really don't feel like being turned into a jackelope.".

"I will make Artemis swear an oath on the Styx to not attack you," Zeus assured him and when Artemis opened her mouth to protest continued "and if Artemis does not abide by this decision the hunt will be disbanded. If she refuses to teach them how to fight in close combat then I will assign her a guardian who can do the job.".

Glancing at Thalia, his sister in all but blood…ichor…whatever, he made his decision "I will Uncle, even if for the only reason that I want to make sure that Thalia is safe.".

"I can look after myself Barnacle Beard." Thalia said with a playful swat at his shoulder.

"I know lightning rod," he said, rubbing the insulted facial hair "but you guys are family and I always look after family…and don't insult the beard gods damn it!".

Before Thalia could retort Zeus fired his lightning bolt into the air as the rest of the council flashed in, shooting them a confused look before settling in their thrones. "Why are we here brother?" Hades asked, shifting around to get comfortable on his stygian iron throne.

"Today the hunt was ambushed by a horde of monsters that got close enough that bows were practically useless and were saved by Perseus. To ensure that Artemis and her hunters are not destroyed by a force trying to use the same tactic Perseus is being assigned as their guardian." Zeus stated firmly as the gods and goddesses all thanked him for saving Artemis and the hunters, much to the annoyance of said silver clad group.

"So we're here to witness his official appointment?" Athena asked cautiously, the wisdom goddess having been walking on eggshells around him ever since the end of the giant war when Annabeth admitted she had moved on when he was missing but chose not to say anything so he would be able to focus on the quest.

"That and see if any of us want to provide him any tools or blessings to make his job easier." Zeus clarified.

"I have a tent that Leo and I have been building," Hephaestus spoke up "we finished it about a week ago but didn't know what to do with it. I think Leo would be happy his friend is using it. Just promise that you'll let me know if you see any problems with it.".

"Thanks Hephaestus," he said gratefully as the forge god snapped his fingers, causing a black and silver tent roll to appear on the ground in front of him "I'll be sure to take care of it.".

"My gift is waiting for you inside the tent when you open it," Apollo said excitedly "I helped Hephaestus design the interior so I know what all's inside…along with a few extras I added.".

Before he could thank the Sun god Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares, Hades, Zeus, and Hestia all sent beams of light inside the tent roll which glowed before the group of gods and goddesses smirked and said they put their 'gifts' inside the tent as well for him to find later.

Finally Zeus turned to Artemis, "Now for your oath Artemis," the king of the gods said sternly "then we will get Perseus's.".

Glaring angrily Artemis grudgingly swore "I Swear upon the River Styx that I shall not attack Perseus Jackson without reason." As thunder boomed to seal her oath she turned to Zeus "Happy?".

"Very good," Zeus said nodding before giving the Moon goddess a firm look "but with your 'without reason' clause, it will have to be a reason that the entire council agrees upon. I will not have you attacking him with your reason being 'he is male'."

Seeing Artemis wince he knew that was what she was planning, shaking his head to clear his thoughts he clapped a hand on Thalia's shoulder before walking in front of the council "I swear upon the River Styx that I shall protect Artemis and her Hunters to the best of my ability so long as they warrant it.", as he finished his oath Zeus blasted him with a burst of light as he practically felt his body stop aging and knew he was now, at least partially, immortal.

"Very well Perseus," Zeus said with a nod as he stood up and shouldered his new tent pack "but may I ask about that ending?".

"If the Hunters push me too far I will stop acting as their guardian," he explained "I know how they treat men and while some men might deserve that treatment they tend not to differentiate. If I feel like they abuse my position as their guardian or just abuse me in general too much I will not continue.".

Nodding in acceptance Zeus dismissed the council before the gods and goddesses, bar Artemis, flashed out. When he turned to Artemis he saw her flashing away her Hunters before he walked over "Where are you planning on making camp?".

"Yellow Stone," the goddess said angrily, glaring at him as if he were the scum of the earth…which to her he was "get there on your own." Before she flashed out.

Rolling his eyes he waved goodbye to his cousins before mist traveling to Yellow Stone and tracked Artemis' powerful signature to the hunter's campground. When he landed he heard Thalia arguing with Artemis about her leaving him behind causing him to smirk and walk out, chuckling happily "Awww, you do care Thals.".

Shaking his head at Thalia's yelp of surprise he gazed at the Hunter's Camp, taking in the layout before selecting a patch of empty space a decent distance from the others and pulled out his tent, the magical cloth springing to life on its own and folding open into a moderately sized black tent with silver wave like designs and a trident on each side.

Walking towards his new abode he pulled open the flap and gapped at the massive sight before him. Instead of a regular, or slightly enlarged, tent interior like he had been expecting he was greeted by a large multi-leveled complex as he walked out onto the top floor which had a balcony showing a good four floors below him.

Noticing something out of the corner of his eye he turned and saw a sign on the wall that had a floor guide on it that read:

Fourth Floor: Entrance/Exit. Flashing point. Bedroom. Bathroom.

Third Floor: Library. Medical Bay. Office. Lounge.

Second Floor: bowling alley. Game room. Music room.

Ground Floor: cafeteria. Bar. Kitchen. Ballroom. Nightclub.

Basement: Swimming pool. Gym. Training field. Vault. Armory.

Giving a low whistle he took in the area around him, "Leo and Hephaestus do good work," he said impressed "you would never be able to tell from the outside.".

Before he could begin to explore his new home Thalia burst inside, angry at first before she wound off to shock and awe as she looked around "Not cool…Percy…" she ended in a near whisper as she gazed around before he pointed at the floor guide. It was silent for about a minute before she screamed "I WANT ONE!".

Laughing he stuck out his elbow and asked teasingly "Well dear lady, shall we tour my humble new abode?".

Laughing along with him she looped her arm with his and replied "Why of course good sir." As they made their way around the tent, checking out the different rooms.

After the short tour he brought his cousin back to the entrance and shooed her out, chuckling "Now go on before Artemis sends in a raiding party to 'rescue' you from me.".

Shaking her head Thalia walked out as he turned to gaze once more upon his new 'domain'. As he gazed around he noticed a box next to the floor guide. Walking over he saw that it was, to his surprise, a security system that had a wide range of options. After debating for a while he selected that nobody who wasn't entered into the system could enter the tent/house and even then they had to be let in personally to a room. If a person wasn't in the system they would be…held there until he was roused or brought to the balcony.

Walking into his room he noticed a note and a shoebox on his bed so, confused, he walked over and opened the note. The note was from Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares, Hades, Zeus, Apollo, and Hestia from when they gave him their gifts in the council meeting. Hermes gave him a pair of winged shoes, Aphrodite gave him a wardrobe that contained any piece of clothing he wanted, Ares stocked his armory with both armor and weapons, Hades gave him a map that would show whatever area the Hunters were camped at and any nearby sources of wealth such as veins of precious metal or gems along with buried treasure, Zeus gave him permission to fly and a set of bronze knuckles that would conduct lightning, Apollo had provided a state of the art entertainment system in the game and music rooms, and Hestia enchanted his kitchen so that it would never run out of food or ingredients.

Getting an idea he went back to the security system and programed in Thalia, Jason, Nico, and Hazel before sending Jason, Nico, and Hazel an iris message, asking them to shadow travel over to the tent before he walked out to invite Thalia back in.

Walking out he found Thalia, Artemis, and a hunter he didn't recognize talking by a stump a short distance away from his tent but the three turned towards him when he exited the tent. "Ah, Perseus," Artemis said with a sadistic gleam in her eye "I was wondering when you would come out. Your chores for tomorrow are to sharpen the hunt's collection of arrowheads, do the Hunter's Laundry, feed the wolves, cook the meals, sharpen the knives, and collect firewood.".

By the look on Thalia's face, and the sheer depth of the list, he knew that it was likely most if not all of the chores that needed to be done in the camp and she wanted to shove all the work off onto him. Glaring at the moon goddess he growled "No.".

That one word caused the goddess to gape at him openly, "No?!" She demanded shocked "You're our guardian, you're supposed to obey me!".

"That's right," he snarled "I'm your _guardian_, not your freaking SERVANT! If you want a slave to force all the jobs you and your hunters do so you and your group of girl scouts can sit around and be lazy then apply to Zeus for one but it isn't going to be me. My job is to keep you safe when large forces attack the hunt as, apart from Thalia, your group sucks at close combat. I will follow along with your group, I will keep an eye on your group, I'll protect it, but you're out of your damn mind if you think I'm going to be your slave.". Turning to Thalia he took in a deep breath before asking "I wanted to know if you wanted to join me back in the tent, I already invited Nico, Jason, and Hazel to shadow travel to the bar on the ground floor so we could celebrate Jason's twenty first.".

"Sure," she said with a somewhat nervous grin, probably shaken from the chewing out he had just given Artemis "sounds good.".

Grinning he led her back inside just as Nico, Jason, and Hazel shadow travelled in before Thalia burst out laughing at their faces "THIS IS A TENT?!" Jason exclaimed in shock.

Laughing he threw an arm round the son of Jupiter's shoulders, saying "Jason my friend, you have seen anything yet.".

The rest of the night was amazing as they drank throughout the night, celebrating Jason finally being old enough to drink as he was the youngest of them all, Hazel and Nico being from the past and automatically older.

The next morning was not so amazing though as he woke up first and nearly passed back out from his hangover before stumbling over to his cabinets where he had found Hangover potions the night before. Chugging one down he decided to wake up the others and summoned a bunch of water before dumping it on his cousins who shot awake with a frightened yell before doubling over in pain as their hangovers hit. "Good Morning cousins," he said cheerfully "isn't today just a fine, fine day?".

He relished the looks of pained horror they were sending him before he stretched and continued "Well as I'm sure you all have things to do I'll just mist travel you lot home. Jason will go to his and Piper's apartment, Nico to his father's palace, and Hazel to her and Frank's place.". He knew that Hades, Piper, and Frank wouldn't be too happy, although Frank would probably cave after a pout, but Hades and Piper would take it out of Nico and Jason's hides.

After they were gone he pulled out another hangover potion from the cabinet and poured it down Thalia's gaping mouth before she shook herself at the sudden lack of pain. After she took a moment to process what had just happened she suddenly smirked at him, "That was mean Percy." She tried scolding but her chuckles somewhat lessened the effect.

"Funny though," he admitted with a shrug "but it was also pay back and a lesson. When I turned twenty one Nico and Hazel did the same to me while Hazel laughed...minus the hangover cure anyway. Now I'm just returning the favor.".

After one last laugh Thalia headed out of the tent to resume her chores while he decided to explore his game room.

-Artemis-

The moon goddess was furious beyond measure. First she and her hunt had to be saved by…by a _male _of all things. When her father had told her that she and her hunt needed a guardian she was ready to kill someone, preferably the arrogant male that thought she and her hunters were so weak that they needed saving, but her rage became apoplectic when the one he assigned was the same male from before. When she had figured out a way around her oath to not attack him by instead using him to do all the chores in the camp he had flat out REFUSED! This morning Thalia had finally left his tent but she reeked of alcohol even if she moved around fine, likely one of Apollo's damn hangover potions, and Perseus hadn't come out of his tent once the entire day.

Stomping towards her 'guardian's' tent she forced open the flap and felt one of Hephaestus security systems try and hold her in place before she forced off the spell and followed the loud laughter coming from the second floor, the enlarged tent not surprising her after hearing Thalia chatter excitedly about it earlier.

Kicking open the door, fully intending to chew Perseus out, she stopped in her tracks when she saw not just Perseus but Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hecate, and Ares all sitting on chairs or couches turned towards a massive TV that had what looked like a video game logo on it.

-Percy-

Spinning when he heard the door slam open he saw an enraged Artemis who's anger slowly turned to confusion. "Apollo," he called causing the sun god to turn towards him "your sister's here and she looks pissed.".

At those words the gods, and goddess, he was spending time with turned to face the, once again, angry goddess of the hunt. "Hey there Sis," Apollo said cheerfully "what are you doing here?".

Snapping out of her stunned stupor Artemis growled angrily "I thought I told you to stay away from the Hunt Apollo.".

"Technically my tent is separate from the hunt," he piped up with a shrug "it has its own flash point and people can only exit the main flap with my permission unless they force off the spell which takes a good bit of power.".

"And you never answered the question." Hermes added, looking up for a brief moment from the phone form of the caduceus.

"I am _here_," the moon goddess snarled, sounding a great deal like one of the beasts she would hunt "to drag my lazy, good for nothing, excuse for a guardian out of his damn tent to make him do the chores I assigned him.".

"We've been over this," he grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation "I am your _guardian_, "not your slave or servant. My job is to protect you when you and your hunters are ambushed, nothing else.".

"Less talk more Skyrim!" Ares growled, bouncing up and down in his seat, clearly eager to get back to the war like video game.

"You just had a turn Ares," Hecate pouted "I want to go again.".

"And use what?" Ares sneered "Your pathetic mage character?".

"It's better than your stupid Tank Character!" Hecate yelled before pulling out a staff that she had created after seeing it in the game, the wabbajack.

"Don't you point that evil thing at me!" Ares screamed, diving behind Hermes in fear of the staff, "I am not getting turned into a chicken again!".

"DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!" Hephaestus cheered excitedly, no doubt wanting to see his brother punished.

"I am not getting turned into a bloody mudcrab for you Ares!" Hermes cried, using his shoes to fly up to the ceiling as Hecate trained her staff on Ares.

"WHAT THE HADES IS GOING ON?!" Artemis yelled while Apollo laughed his ass of at the rampant Chaos.

"SKYRIM!" he yelled happily along with his guests.

"I invited Apollo over to hang out and ask about the entertainment systems he put in here," he explained "and I was sifting through the games for the PlayStation three when I found Skyrim and mentioned it.".

"That got me excited because you can make a character with an Archer build." Apollo pipped up.

"And I was nearby and decided to come because your character can be a thief." Hermes said cheerfully.

"They came across me and Ares arguing and we agreed to come as your character can do magic." Hecate explained, hefting the Wabbajack replica onto her shoulders.

"And there are a few war that happen in the game." Ares cheered gleefully.

"I decided to come because there's blacksmithing." Hephaestus said with a shrug.

"And not only played host but provided the greatest bonding tool ever created." He finished proudly.

"What the Hades would that be?" Artemis asked confused.

"BEER!" he cheered along with Ares, Apollo, Hermes, and Hephaestus while Hecate laughed at them happily.

-Apollo-

-Three days later-

For the first time in decades the god of the sun was eager to get to one of the council meetings…something that would probably give his father a heart attack if the god of thunder found out. Settling down on his golden throne he looked around at the rest of the council that was assembled along with a few demigods that served their parent's court.

Hades was currently giving a stern glare at a sulking Nico who was shooting glares at a smirking Percy…he'd be damned if there wasn't a story behind that.

Hephaestus and Ares were bickering about what type of armor and weapon was better than what in Skyrim while Hermes was trying to pickpocket them.

Hecate he spotted in the corner fiddling with her wabbajack staff and giving him a thumb's up, having already been clued in on his plan.

Artemis was glaring at Percy who was standing next to Poseidon's throne while texting Thalia who was leaning against his sister's silver throne. The rest of the council looked pretty relaxed, I.E. bored, and were just waiting for the meeting to start.

The meeting continued about as expected until finally his father got to the end where he opened the floor to new propositions. "I have one." he said happily as he got off his throne, relishing the looks of panic from the rest of the council who were probably still remembering his last suggestions…he still didn't know what was so bad about wanting to make a national haiku day for demigods.

"What is your suggestion Apollo?" Zeus groaned.

Pouting at the reactions, while he did find their fear amusing it was still hurtful, he answered "I would like to put forward that every god or goddess be allowed to name a champion, a demigod who is not one of their children, that will receive blessings giving them all or at least some of the powers they would have had if they had been born to that god or goddess. The Champion will due tasks for their patron and protect their patron's children. As a symbol of their position each Champion will be given a weapon or piece of armor from whichever god or goddess they work for. A demigod can be the champion of multiple gods or goddesses but we can only have one champion.".

As he caught his breath from the long explanation he looked around to see the many gaping faces of the council members and the glaring face of Percy that clearly stated 'if you name me your champion and give me even more crap to deal with I will have my revenge'…it was a very distinctive look **(AN: props to whoever gets the reference)**.

"What if we want to give that sort of position to one of our own children?" Athena asked intrigued.

"I would recommend a different title," he said with a shrug "maybe that of 'genera' and have them be the named leader of all their demigod siblings. It also helps as we know who is in charge of each cabin in case there's another huge battle or war.".

"DON"T JINX US!" Percy, Nico, and Thalia all screamed at once, looks of sheer terror on their faces.

"Sorry, sorry." He placated the terrified demigods who had all pulled out their weapons, looking around the throne room warily…not noticing Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon snapping a few pictures, probably for future blackmail. "Is everyone in agreement?".

"I'm in!" Hermes said happily and was soon followed by the rest of the council.

"Then I would like to be the first to name my champion," he said happily as he pulled out a magical weapon that Hecate had helped him form from his raw divine power and shape through her magic so it could channel his domains like the one he based it off of, "I give Auriel's bow to my new Champion…Percy Jackson!" he declared happily as the bow vanished from his hands in a flash of light and appeared strapped to Percy's back.

It took all his, admittedly small, self-control to not burst out laughing at Percy's dejected look as his shoulders slumped and the aquatic demigod grumbled "I hate you Apollo.".

-Percy-

Groaning, he slumped down into his lazy boy recliner in his lounge and dropped his new bag of weapons next to the comfy chair. After Apollo had named him Champion, which he needed to plan revenge for, his dad and uncles decided to join in, each of the big three naming their Greek children 'General', which he had been admittedly expecting, only for Hades to name him Champion, Poseidon to name Thalia Champion, and Zeus to name Nico Champion. And the, right when he thought the Fates were done messing with him for the night, Hecate walked out of the shadows, tossed wabbajack into his arms, and said "Good Luck Champion." Before walking off again. When Aphrodite had opened her mouth while eyeing him he gave her the same glare that he had given Apollo only this time it worked as the goddess of love paled, gulped, and kept her mouth shut.

After the throne room had settled down the council decided that the Greek versions of the gods and goddesses could select Greek demigods as Generals and Champions while their Roman equivalents could select Roman demigods for the positions, so he was sure that Jason and Hazel would soon join him in 'General' status.

Apollo and Hecate had shown everyone how to forge the special weapons through shaping the raw divine energy as the big three made their symbols for their Generals and Champions. His father had created a signet ring that was made of a sea-green gold with a trident symbol on it that amplified his powers threefold, Hades and Zeus did the same for Nico and Thalia but with their own symbols of Power as well as Zeus using traditional gold and Hades using Stygian Iron.

The Weapons through were much more interesting. His father had given Thalia a silver trident that would help her focus the powers she gained as the Champion of the Sea god and had the added bonus of being affected by the phases of the moon like the ocean was, it was a very giddy Thalia that pointed out that silver was also the most conductive metal in the world making both him and Nico gulp at the look she sent their way. Zeus' weapon for Nico was war hammer made of silver, that look suspiciously like Thor's hammer from the Marvel movies, that Nico grinned widely about, muttering about 'beating sense into Minos' causing him to snicker. Hades had presented him with a set of clawed chains made of Stygian Iron that he noticed were identical to the claws of Hades form the god of war games and he was informed had the same powers.

It was amusing watching every god or goddess, except for Artemis, blush when he asked if they all had video game addictions. The one he found funniest was when Demeter admitted to being addicted to Farmville as that made him realize that the goddess of the harvest actually made a Facebook page.

Now he was back in tentlantis and wondering what would happen next in the messed up story that was his life.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hey everybody, I'm back and I'd like to go over. First is that I have yet to decide a pairing for Percy, as I do want him to have a girlfriend in this story, and I'm trying to decide who it's going to be so any suggestions will be listened to as will arguments of single pairing vs. multi pairing. The other thing is that I do want to keep my promise and break as many of the clichés of this genre of Percy Jackson fanfiction there are but I might not know all of them so if there are any clichés you want me to break or any jokes you want me to add just put them in the review box.**

The REAL Guardian of the Hunt

Chapter 2

-Percy-

Sighing Percy Jackson, son and General of Poseidon, Champion of Hades, Apollo, and Hecate, defeater of both Gaea and Kronos, as well as slayer of who knows how many super powered pissed of monstrous entities flopped onto his bed in tentlantis after seeing one of the most disturbing things of his adventurous if short life. Pinching the bridge of his nose he grumbled out "Thalia's never going to let me live this down." as he remembered what had just happened.

-Flashback-

Sighing he moved over to his selected area of the designated 'camp' for the hunt until they move again. It had been two months since he had started his job as the Hunt's official 'Guardian' and while he did get to spend more time with Thalia and a few of the gods on occasion he also had to deal with Artemis and her girl scouts from Tartarus who were determined to make his life harder without going overboard as they knew if he quit being their guardian Zeus was likely to dissolve the hunt. Throughout the days march to the new are for their next hunt the hunters had been shooting him mocking looks and he was positive that they were using a nature magic blessing from Artemis to cause the nearby tree roots to trip him and the local animals to mess with him.

Stepping inside he propped his hiking stick, a simple oak branch he found a few weeks ago, against the wall next to the 'door' and went over to his bedroom to check the map of the local area before grabbing some dinner. It was a routine he had started with every new area the Hunt went to but as of yet the map hadn't shown any signs of buried treasure, gem mines, or veins of precious metals. It did show a few moving groups of monsters which he told Thalia about who, in turn, informed the rest of the hunt and Artemis as they would just brush it off if he told them.

This time though he was surprised to see a small gem mine about a half mile from the camp, the entrance covered up by some rocks and trees. Grinning he put on a watch he had requested from Leo that would connect with his map and let him know about anything that showed up within a certain radius of the camp before slipping a box that he found a few weeks ago along with a note from Hephaestus saying it was for if he ever found gem mines or ore veins.

Stepping out into the camp, ignoring the shocked looks from the hunters as he only ever left his tent to give his usual reports to Thalia or Artemis, if the Hunt was moving, or if he was leaving to go somewhere with Thalia. "Yo Lightning Rod," he said with a grin as he walked over to Thalia "according to the map we got something fun about a half-mile from here. Care to join?".

"Well today is my day off from chores so sure," Thalia said with a shrug as he began moving off towards the area that the mine was, Thalia matching pace with him as she eyed him curiously "what did the map show anyway?".

"Gem mine," he said with a smirk "it's not that big but hey, gems are gems.".

"That's great Perce but, uh, we don't exactly have mining equipment or experience." Thalia deadpanned causing him to roll his eyes.

"Hephaestus and Leo like using me to test their inventions remember?" he asked with a raised eyebrow "They gave me something to use for mining a few weeks ago…haven't opened it yet though.".

"Well let's get going then Barnacle Beard!" Thalia said with a grin before she sped up her pace.

"Don't mock the beard!" he yelled in mock anger, chasing after her as she cackled gleefully.

Finally getting to the area the map indicated held the mine he pulled out the small box and set it down before pushing the button on top as it began to whir and hum, expanding as it did so until it was three feet across and clearly larger on the inside than the outside as he a staircase going down into some sort of pit. Before he could check inside he heard a group of voices begin singing:

"We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig

In our mine the whole day through

To dig dig dig dig dig dig dig

Is what we really like to do

It ain't no trick to get rich quick

If you dig dig dig with a shovel or a pick

In a mine! In a mine! In a mine! In a mine!

Where a million diamonds shine!

We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig

From early morn till night

We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig up

Everything in sight

We dig up diamonds by the score

A thousand rubies, sometimes more

But we don't know what we dig 'em for

We dig dig dig a-dig dig

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho

Heigh-ho

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho

It's home from work we go

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho

Heigh-ho

Heigh-ho"

As he listened to the song he saw seven bronze dwarf automatons march out of the open 'box', each with a shovel or a pick over their shoulder as they marched over to the area that contained the mine and quickly began digging their way through and into the mine as he just gaped at what he was seeing, an action that was being mirrored by Thalia.

Snapping out of it he slapped a palm to his forehead and groaned "Well that answers that question." He grumbled, an act which snapped Thalia out of her daze as well.

"What question?" Thalia giggled, still getting over what they had just seen.

"When I got the box of…dwarves there was a note saying that it was for doing mining but another one that said it was the result of what happened when Leo and Hephaestus got drunk during a 'father son bonding night' and how both Aphrodite and Calypso had banned them from doing so again…now I can see why. Those two are crazy enough on their own sober, and I can handle one of them at a time drunk, but both of them drunk together is apparently a force that the universe can't handle too much of.". Thalia only laughed in response to his plight as the song continued to repeat as the gems were mined.

-Flashback end-

"I just hope she doesn't bring it up at cousin night tomorrow," he muttered with a shudder, imagining what Nico, Jason, and Hazel would say about _that_ particular invention.

-Cousin Night-

"And then these seven little automaton miners walk out and they're actually singing the song from that old Disney movie!" Thalia laughed as she told Nico, Jason, and Hazel what had happened yesterday while he was repeatedly slamming his forehead into the table with a groan.

"I hate you." He grumbled, flipping off his semi-immortal cousin as he did so.

"Love you too Tuna Fish." Thalia said, patting his head like he was a dog while the others snickered.

"You do realize that this means war right lightning rod?" he asked with a raised eyebrow which got a smirk from his cousin.

"Of course," she said with a confident smirk "and I look forward to defeating you.".

"Terms of engagement?" he asked seriously as Thalia took a minute to think before replying.

"If I force you to admit defeat you have to go out with a girl of my choice." Thalia said with a smirk causing him to gulp, nervous about who she would pick, a nervousness that was slightly lessseneed when she added "And don't worry, I won't pick Annabeth or any girl that already has a boyfriend.".

"Alright then," he said, thinking of an idea "if I make you admit defeat then you have to help Apollo out with one prank of his choice and do whatever parts of it he tells you as long as you don't break any laws or oaths.".

His cousin's eyes narrowed at him "Those are some high stakes Percy…let this be a battle for the ages.".

"Aye, terms of engagement?" he asked causing her to grin sadistically "Anything as long as the other person isn't _too_ injured, we don't break any oaths, and we don't destroy any property belonging to the other one. Also, we can't get help from any outside source.".

"We have an accord then." He said with a nod as they shook on it while Jason and Nico simply shook their heads in amusement. "But let's begin tomorrow," he said after a pause "tonight is supposed to be our fun night where we can all get together and just catch up.".

"Why'd you pick this place anyway Perce?" Nico asked as they looked around the small mortal diner which only had a couple customers here or there that weren't paying attention to us as well as a cook and waitress in the back.

"I came here on my first quest and I have to say, the milkshakes and burgers are amazing," he said with a shrug before wrapping his arms around Hazel and Thalia who were flaking him and pulled them into one armed hugs "plus there's an abandoned waterpark a couple miles away that we can troll around in when we're done…I just hope Hephaestus removed that booby trap of his.".

"Aphodite and Ares?" Hazel asked with a raised eyebrow which got a nod.

"Yep," he said with an amused grin "they had an 'extreme' tunnel of love ride and the starting pool was ringed with mirrors which would allow those two to see their favorite people, themselves, when they made out. Hephaestus set a trap so when they broke a trip wire the mirrors would open and release a few hundred automaton spiders while the cupid statues flanking the giant pool would shoot their arrows across to create a net so you would be trapped with them.".

"How romantic!" Hazel mock sighed in an overly dramatic voice before draping herself across him, an act that Thalia copied as well as they struck and over-dramatic pose while Jason and Nico laughed and called out 'Bravo' and 'Brava'.

Before they could continue the door opened and they saw some local 'thugs' enter before making their way over to their table. "Hey there hot stuff," one of the wannabe thugs said with a lecherous leer at Thalia and Hazel who were still draped on him, both of them too stunned that this idiot had the balls to actually walk up and say that "why don't you two ditch the dorks and come have some fun with some _real_ men.".

Looking calmly at his cousins who were frozen in shock he asked, "You want to handle this, or should I?" which snapped them out of their shock as the two girls began snarling and rising out of their seats, an ominous air coming from them.

While Hazel stood up and got out of their booth Thalia climbed over the side but both were snarling at the trio of thugs like lionesses and looked even more dangerous as Thalia pushed the first thug back by pushing his chest with her finger "Shove off piss ant," the daughter of Zeus snarled, "you're interrupting my lunch with my cousins!".

As his two female cousins began chewing out the three wannabe thugs he stood up from his spot to give them back up if they needed any, keeping an eye out for any threatening movement. After a moment of shock the three thugs snarled at them, the lead one pulling back his hand as if to backhand her "Listen here you little B-" the thug began before he shot out his own hand and grabbed the fool by his throat, finally standing up to his full height of six foot five as he towered over the thugs and snarled.

"Now I know you weren't about to strike or curse my precious cousin…right?" he asked with a feral growl, tightening his grip at the last word as the thugs two friends were backing up and stumbling over themselves to get away from him before he tossed their leader at them, causing all three to hit the ground before they took off running out of the diner.

"Our Hero!" Thalia and Hazel cheered with a laugh before he wrapped an arm around each of them and pulled them into a hug.

"You guys are precious to me," he growled, glaring in the direction of the still retreating idiots "and _nobody_ hurts you guys while I'm around.", a statement that was quickly backed up by Jason and Nico while a few of the people in the diner nodded in their direction respectfully, the thugs actions having not been the most subtle.

-Tentlantis-

-Next Day-

Sitting in his kitchen he waited for the raging storm of destruction known as Thalia that he expected to come charging into his tent at any moment after the 'prank' he pulled on her, having wanted to get in the first strike. Sure enough, not five minutes later he heard the tent's 'door' slam open and his enraged cousin yelling "PERCY!".

"In the kitchen Thals!" he hollered back with a laugh as he flipped a pancake, his cousin's thundering steps meeting his statement as she charged towards him. As soon as she stormed into the room he slid a plate of blue pancakes towards her on the counter as it slid to a stop just in front of her as she paused and eyed them warily. "Relax Thals," he said with a roll of his eyes "I wouldn't use blue pancakes for a prank, they're sacred.".

That seemed to calm his cousin, she knew how seriously he took his mom's blue pancake recipe, before she happily dug in, moaning in bliss at the sheer deliciousness of what was before them as he prepared his own plate and sat down next to her. "That prank was cruel Percy," Thalia got out between bites as he passed her a carton of orange juice "why on earth would you do that?".

"I wanted to hit hard and hit fast," he said with a smirk "and you can't deny it was effective.".

"You woke me up with five hundred bobble-head sized automatons singing 'it's a small world after all'" Thalia said with a deadpan stare as he whistled happily and buffed his fingernails on his shirt.

Deciding to try and make it up to her, as even he would admit that his prank was a little cruel, he said "How about this, you can keep them to use for a prank against someone else besides me.".

"I know just the thing," Thalia said with a sadistic grin that made him shiver "I've been trying to find the best way to get back at Hermes for a while.".

"What he do this time?" he asked with a raised eyebrow at what his divine cousin did to earn the wrath of Thalia.

"I overheard him talking to my dad to try and convince him to have another demigod daughter so he could sleep with her, his exact words to dad were 'you're daughters are hot and since Thalia's a hunter you should have another girl so I can get with her'. The idiot was drunk and dad hit him with a lightning bolt but I still need payback." Thalia explained which caused him to growl at the idiot's stupidity.

"I'm more than willing to help with that but we won't be using those automatons," he explained and, when Thalia opened her mouth to protest, he continued "we'll be using the versions that shoot lightning and will chase him around…and I have a thousand of them.".

Thalia's response was to grin and hug him tightly as she nuzzled his cheek with a slightly freaky cackle, "Can we have Hephaestus record it for us?" she asked happily which caused him to nod and grin sadistically like her as she cheered.

-Two hours later-

Leaning against a tree outside of Hermes' palace along with Thalia he smirked as he heard a loud scream from the god of messengers from their prank before Hermes flew, literally, out of his palace with a horde of a thousand bobble head sized automatons singing 'it's a small world after all' that were shooting lightning at him. "Best cousin ever!" Thalia laughed happily as she jumped on his back for a piggy back ride causing him to grunt.

"Didn't feel like asking?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

In response Thalia cheered "Mush Pony!".

Getting an idea he grinned and gripped her legs before telling her "Hold on tight Thals!" before he took off running, ignoring the giggling nymphs that saw them pass as Thalia laughed happily from his back before he entered into his father's district and turned towards a large pool as Thalia realized what he was about to do before he leapt into the air and hit the water before quickly shooting out before Thalia could zap him as he sat on the sidelines while his cousin glared down at him angrily as she surfaced before he informed her "Percy two, Thalia zero.".

"Asshole." Thalia grumbled as she climbed out of the pool before he mist traveled them back to the hunter's camp. "I will win this competition Percy!" Thalia hollered at him as he went back to tentlantis "I will be victorious!".

"Keep telling yourself that lightning rod!" he called back over his shoulder before walking back into his tent to plan his next prank.

-Next Weekend-

Grinning he walked into the restraint in New Rome where he was meeting Jason, Nico, Leo, and Frank for guys night. Yesterday Thalia had finally admitted defeat after he used a magic spell he learned from Hecate to curse her so that all of her clothes turned hot pink with the words 'I love Barbie' on them and said that he would only reverse the curse if she surrendered…she caved in a half second before he sent Apollo an Iris Message letting him now about how she now had to help him with a prank.

"Alright," he said with a smirk as he walked over to the guys "we've got the spooky scary skeleton, the light bulb, the teddy bear, and the Zippo lighter.".

"Hey there aqua man." Leo said with a grin, not at all bothered by the nickname he gave them.

"Light bulb?" Jason asked with a deadpan as he grinned at his Roman cousin "Really?".

"I'm not a teddy bear!" Frank protested which got a deadpan stare from the entire group until Frank relented with a pout.

"And you couldn't come up with a more creative name than…" Nico began only to stop, blushing in embarrassment, when the son of Hade's phone went off and the ringtone was the nightcore version of 'spooky scary skeletons'.

"Nico's ringtone aside," he said with a grin as his cousin glared at him "you guys ready for guys night?!" which got a cacophony of cheers from the others as they walked over to their table.

"So you guys ready for the festival next week?" Frank asked once they were settled. The festival was something the gods had been doing for the past few years where all the gods and the majority of the world's demigods would go to New Rome to celebrate the victory of the last two wars and honor those that had fallen.

"Hell yeah man," he said with a grin "I heard that Apollo's setting up a poker tournament for one part of the festival.".

"How much you wanna bet that he'll try to turn it into strip poker the moment a girl joins?" Jason asked with a raised eyebrow which got a unanimous 'I don't take sucker's bets' from the rest of the group.

"So has Thalia helped Apollo with his prank yet?" Jason asked as they relaxed at their booth, "I've been wondering what it was going to be.".

"Not yet," he said with a shake of his head "Apollo said I would know what it was when it happened which either means that it will happen ear me or to me…my guess would be too me.".

"Probably." Jason said with a nod that was mirrored by Leo as Frank went to the bathroom and Nico ran outside to the person who was about to key his motorcycle.

"Can I take your order?" a new voice said to his right as they turned and saw a nymph waitress with a notepad waiting for them.

"Yeah I'll take a cheeseburger and- AAAAAAAAHH MY FRIEND'S ON FIRE! GET ME A BUCKET!" Jason began before freaking out when Leo sneezed and burst into flames causing him to sigh and draw the moisture from the air to drench the hot head across from him.

"Sorry about that," he apologized to the shocked waitress with a nervous chuckle "I'll pay for the damages." Which got a hesitant nod before they placed their own orders as well as ordered for Frank and Nico.

"Never a dull moment, is there?" he asked with a grin as the others shook their heads in agreement. But that was okay in his books, normal is boring and sanity is overrated.

-Next week, day of the festival-

Sighing he walked towards bunker nine with Frank and Hazel as they went to collect Leo at the request of Calypso who was parking Festus back in New Rome. Walking inside the bunker they saw Leo standing on one of the raised platforms, throwing a fireball at a spider automaton yelling "Muahahahahaha! Burn Baby! Burn!" as Hazel held her hands to her mouth in shock at the sight of crazy Leo, Frank stared confused, and he deadpanned.

"And everything changed when the fire nation attacked." He said still staring at Leo's rampage.

"Was that really necessary?" Hazel asked in exasperation as she slapped a palm to her face while Frank chuckled weakly.

"Don't underestimate the fire lord." He said seriously which was too much for Frank who burst out laughing causing Leo to finally notice them and walk over.

"Hey guys, what's so funny?" Leo asked confused while Hazel groaned in annoyance, he smirked in victory, and Frank rolled on the ground laughing.

After finally calming down Frank enough they mist travelled back to New Rome for the festival as the group split up, Hazel dragging Frank off to go on one of the rides some children of Vulcan and Hephaestus has built while Leo went to go find Calypso.

Shrugging he wandered around, enjoying the sights and having a good time with good friends while also trying to steer clear of the kissing booth Annabeth had set up in desperation…an action that most people were doing althought that might have been because the daughters of Aphrodite and Venus had done the same type of booth at another area and were stealing all of her business.

Finally though he ended up at the poker area and saw the few dozen tables set up and, to his surprise, the table where Apollo sat talking to Thalia, Hazel, Clarisse, Rachel, Reyna, and Hylla. Deciding it was in his best interest to avoid that table at all cost he sat down at a different table and quickly began playing and clearing out his opponents.

As the night drew to a close he walked over to the coliseum to take part in the last event of the festival which was a combat tournament and was selected to fight in the first round against a son of Mars. As he stepped out into the arena he felt a chill go down his spine as he turned and saw Thalia, Hazel, Rachel, Clarisse, Reyna, and Hylla all wearing bright red and blue cheerleader outfits that had the letters PJ on the front and wearing pom-poms and holding a banner in front of them which said 'Team Percy' while Apollo sat smugly next to them causing him to groan which only got worse when they began to cheer.

"P-E-R-C-Y! He is such a super guy! Goooooooo Percy!" they cheered, jumping up and down while the attention of several male demigods were drawn to their cheer uniforms.

"Note to self," he grumbled as he readied riptide, "kill Apollo later.".


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Alright people, the poll has ended and here are the results, starting from last place and then heading to first:**

**In eighteenth place we have Nyssa (Daughter of Hephaestus) with five votes**

**In seventeenth place we have Gwendolyn (The centurion from the fifth who died and came back) also with five votes. **

**In sixteenth place we have Kayla (daughter of Apollo) with six votes**

**In fifteenth place we have Drew Tanaka with eight votes**

**In fourteenth place we have Hylla who also had eight votes**

**In thirteenth place we have Demeter with twelve votes**

**In twelfth place we have Lou Ellen (daughter of Hecate) with fourteen votes**

**In eleventh place we have Katie Gardener with fifteen votes**

**In tenth place we have Tyche (goddess of luck) also with fifteen votes**

**In ninth place we have Nike (goddess of victory) with sixteen votes**

**In eight place we have Clarisse, also with sixteen votes**

**In seventh place we have Rachel with seventeen votes**

**In sixth place we have Melinoe (goddess of ghosts) with eighteen votes (I'm honestly surprised as for a good while she was holding a solid grip on spot five)**

**In fifth place we have Reyna with twenty one votes**

**In fourth place we have Khione (goddess of Ice) with twenty five votes**

**In third place we have Thalia with twenty seven votes**

**In second place we have Hecate (goddess of magic) with thirty three votes**

**And in first place we have Hestia, also with thirty three votes**

**Frankly I'm kind of surprised at how big of a landslide it was for Hestia as I only put her in the poll because someone requested her specifically in a review, if it hadn't been for that I wouldn't have put her as an option. Anyway, this chapter and the next four will each be introducing one of the girls for the pairing and setting up their relationship with both Percy and how they interact with each other…after that we get to the good stuff and to all you perverts out there I'm not talking about lemons.**

The REAL Guardian of the Hunt

Chapter 3

-Percy-

Sighing he plopped down on a bench in the waiting area of the arena. So far in the tournament he had easily beaten everyone he fought against and was getting irritated at not being given a challenge. The first part of the tournament was done and now all he had to do was wait for the second half to complete and then he would fight the winner in the finals. "Not bad Percy," a voice said causing him to jump up in surprise as he spun around to see a smirking Hecate "but it's not really that surprising, not many demigods can compare with Kronos or Gaea after all.".

"Don't remind me," he groaned, flopping back down onto the bench "that's the bad thing about getting this powerful…sparring with other demigods gets as boring as listening to Annabeth lecture.".

"A fate I wouldn't even wish on Atlas." Hecate agreed with a serious nod before she laughed happily and sat down next to him, propping her own wabbajack, identical to his own, against her shoulder.

"So what can I do for you Hecate?" he asked as he looked at his divine friend, surprised to see a faint blush across her cheeks.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go get a drink after the tournament is over?" Hecate asked, nervously twirling the butt of her staff on the ground.

Blinking in surprise he stared in shock at the goddess of magic and hesitantly asked "A-are you asking me on a date?, causing the goddess' faint blush to bloom into a tomato red complexion. Slowly, the brightly blushing Hecate nodded which caused his cheeks to match her own as he replied "I…I'd like that." Causing his soon to be date to beam brightly at his response before she leaned forward as if to kiss him before he slowly held up a hand, a wry grin on his face "You might want to wait till after the tournament is over and I've had a shower." He suggested.

"I get the shower but why wait until after the tournament?" Hecate asked in confusion "We have maybe an hour before the second part of the tournament ends and I can always clean you with magic.".

"If you kiss me then I'll be too dazed to do anything right for a while." He told her cheekily as she blushed brightly before she sent him a smirk of her own and cast a quick spell.

"Then you'll just have to deal with it." She said smugly before grabbing the back of his head and pulling his lips against hers as he frozen in shock before eagerly returning the kiss.

-One hour later-

Slipping on the few pieces of armor he was wearing, and also trying to desperately reign in his blush, he walked out into the arena before glancing at his 'cheer squad' only to gape at seeing Hecate had joined them wearing a, to his eyes, smaller cheer outfit while the other girls in the group along with Apollo were gaping at the smirking goddess of magic who blew him a kiss, bringing his blush back full force.

"Are you not entertained!?" a new voice yelled, causing him to turn to see Lupa standing at the top box with a wide grin on her face, "The first annual demigod tournament has reached the finals! The final match shall be between Perseus Jackson! Son and General of Poseidon, Champion of Hecate, Apollo, and Hades, and Guardian of the Hunters of Artemis!".

Deciding to play the crowd he raised his hands and sword into the air dramatically, roaring to hype up the crowd as they ate it up, the Greek demigods chanting for him while the Romans seemed torn, probably conflicted between rooting for him or their hero as the first half of the tournament was mostly Greek demigods while the second half was all Roman due their much greater numbers.

"And his opponent," Lupa continued as the Romans began stomping their feet and cheering "is Jason Grace! Son and General of Jupiter, Champion of Neptune, and High Priest of the gods!". As she finished her introduction Jason walked out of his section of the arena, the son of Jupiter lazily twirling his imperial gold javelin between his fingers.

"Well this'll be fun lightning bug," he said with a grin, hefting his sword as he settled into a stance "two cousins duking it out for glory…I just feel bad that I have to make Piper worry over your sorry ass when I send you to the infirmary.".

"In your dreams aqua man," Jason replied with a snort "you know you don't have a chance against me.".

"Dude," he laughed "I've survived travelling with your sister, Artemis, and her girl scouts from Tartarus…one blonde Roman with a toothpick isn't about to scare me.". At his words the Greeks rose to their feet, roaring in support of their leader while the Romans screamed for Jason to reply in kind.

"Are we here to trash talk or are we here to fight?" Jason asked with a growl, the High Priest of the gods settling into his own stance.

"Spoken like a man who knows he's beaten," he said with a smirk "but let's get this going…I have a date to get ready for.".

As soon as those words left his mouth he saw the stunned expression on Jason's face and, willing to use any advantage he could get, he shot forward and slashed, his cousin only barely managing to adjust his javelin to block the blow. "A date now is it?" Jason asked, giving a grunt while delivering a powerful thrust which he spun to the side to dodge "Now I'm going to feel guilty about taking your ass to town in front of your new girlfriend. Who is she anyway?".

Kicking off the ground he summersaulted over Jason's head and slashed at the high priest's unprotected back only for Jason to use the wind to spin himself around in time to block the blow. "Hecate," he said smugly "goddess of magic and, in my opinion, a _true_ goddess of beauty.". At his words he could practically feel Hecate's blush all the way from the stands…as well as the massive amount of killing intent that Aphrodite was directing towards him while the audience seemed torn between laughing at the insult towards Aphrodite or staying quiet to avoid a beating…the later prevailed unfortunately.

"Did you have to insult Piper's mom?" Jason groaned, using the wind to backflip while flipping the coin to turn it into a gladius "Now she's going to rant to Piper about it for hours who will in turn rant to me about it for hours.".

"You could always hide with Leo for a week." He grunted, swinging his sword while channeling his power through it to freeze spikes of ice in the air and then shoot them at Jason who let loose a small blast of lightning to shatter them.

"He would set up hidden cameras before telling her _and _her mother," Jason grunted, channeling a massive ball of lighting between his hands "and I'm not giving him free entertainment.".

Grinning he waited until the last second before shadow travelling behind Jason and delivering a solid kick, the slightly drained son of Jupiter unable to block in time as he landed the first blow of the match. "I'm sure he'd give you a cut of whatever profit he made selling it," he assured his cousin "Leo's an ass, not Ares.".

"Hey!" said Ass and Ares yelled angrily from the stands and were promptly ignored.

"How about, 'no'." Jason said grinning before shooting forward and swinging at his face with a haymaker which he blocked before dropping riptide to join his cousin in a pure hand to hand fight. The crowd was cheering loudly at this point, seeing two of the greatest demigods alive going at it full force, matching each other blow for blow as they battled for dominance.

After a moment it was clear that Jason was done with hand to hand when his cousin once more took to the sky with wind control causing him to grin before pulling out Auriel's bow and aiming it. "Smile and wait for the flash Light Bulb!" he called out before firing his arrow, the divine weapon exploding in a blast of light when Jason sent a lightning bolt at it, the wind user still knocked around a bit from letting it get too close. Grinning he began sending arrow after arrow at his cousin who quickly turned his sword back to a javelin and used it to focus lightning to destroy the arrows before they got too close.

"Hey Jason!" he called out, never once ceasing his barrage, silently thanking Apollo for blessing him with archery skills when he became the sun god's champion "How about we finish this with the champion powers we got form our Uncles?".

"I'm in!" Jason called out with a grin before dropping down and summoning the silver trident that was identical to Thalia's while he summoned out the chains he got from Hades.

"Hell yeah!" he roared, swinging his first chain at Jason's legs causing his cousin to jump before swinging the trident and shooting a wave of water at him causing him to dodge to the side. This continued for several minutes, each of them trading blows with the powers they were least experienced with before he got an idea and focused all his shadow travelling powers as he shot his chains into the two shadows nearest him while they shot out of different shadows, the process repeating until the chains, which were enchanted to be as long as he needed them, covered most of the arena and Jason was constantly dodging the stygian iron claws but was fast running out of room.

Finally yanked his chains back hard, the massive force causing them to knock his cousin around before he shot forward and shadow travelled behind Jason as his cousin was spun around, nailing the High Priest of the gods in the face and rendering him unconscious, signaling his victory in the tournament.

Afterwards Jason was revived through some smelling salts, A.K.A. Leo's sweaty sock, and they were brought up to the high seated box where Lupa and Chiron had watched the matches, the ancient centaur smirking smugly at the surly looking wolf. "Greeks! Romans! Demigods!" Lupa called out, the wolf pushing her irritation aside "We have our champion of the arena! Our strongest demigod! Perseus Jackson! Until next year's tournament let it be known that he is the strongest demigod alive!". The Greeks and Romans alike cheered at that statement, all pleased with how intense the match had been before he turned and clasped arms with his cousin, grinning widely at the good fight they had just had.

-One hour later-

Grinning he walked out of the showers to see a smirking Hecate waiting for him, "So," the goddess of magic said as he pulled her into a hug "what was that you said about my kissing you making it to where you couldn't do anything right?".

"It did," he said with a serious nod "you saw me out there. If I hadn't still been dazed by your amazing kissing skills I would have beaten Jason in under a minute.".

"My apologies oh mighty Perseus," Hecate said, giggling behind her hand as she did so "for ruining your oh so glorious victory.".

"Don't be," he assured her before spinning them around and pinning her against the wall "even if I had lost…kissing you was more than worth it." Before capturing her lips in a heated struggle which, after a surprised moan, she quickly and enthusiastically returned.

Just as they were getting into it though a new voice screeched, "What the Hades is going on here?", causing them to turn and see a fuming Annabeth glaring at them. **(AN: Oh come on, you knew I had to put this scene in somewhere)**.

"Um…" he said as if talking to a small child "I believe I was kissing my incredibly beautiful date. Would I be right about that Hecate?".

"Yes you were," Hecate agreed, her eyes twinkling mischievously "and I believe that you should continue doing so right away.".

"Gladly." He said with a grin before diving back in, relishing the taste and feel of Hecate's lips against his own as he completely ignored the fuming and ranting daughter of Athena behind him. While he had been crushed and heartbroken when she had first left him, even running off to hide in the wilderness for a while which he would admit now was going overboard, it just didn't bother him anymore. He didn't hate her by any means but neither did he have any romantic feelings for her, having moved on long ago. He would have tried to spark their friendship up again if it hadn't been for the attitude she had taken where she kept trying to make him take her back or get anyone to date her. While he didn't like her decision or agree with it he could at least understand it as she had been trying to do what was best for the quest which _was_ to save the entire human race…kind of a big deal.

Before the jealous daughter of Athena could try to separate him and Hecate a new group of voices was heard as his friends and his 'cheer squad' walked down the Hall, Apollo groaning at the sight before he idly noticed the sun god flashing Annabeth away. Breaking his lip lock with Hecate he glanced at his friends, idly noting that Clarisse had the letter on her cheer outfit changed to CR for her boyfriend Chris Rodriguez while Hazel had done the same, changing hers to FZ. He thought he saw a flash of something shoot across Thalia's eyes but it was gone before he could tell if it actually was something or his imagination so, pushing that aside, he pulled Hecate against him as they walked up and resumed mingling with their friends, laughing happily as they all returned to the festival.


	4. Chapter 4

The REAL Guardian of the Hunt

Chapter 4

-Percy-

Groaning he felt himself slowly begin to leave the realm of Morpheus for the waking world, his head throbbing from the hangover he was suffering from. Slowly he reached up to his headboard, keeping his eyes firmly shut to block out light, and felt around for one of the hangover potions he always kept above his bed before downing the bloody thing. Shaking the cobwebs away he suddenly felt weight on his chest and, looking down, groaned as he saw something that caused him to remember what had happened last night…the sleeping, half-naked forms of Thalia and Hecate.

-Flashback-

Laughing happily he wrapped an arm around Hecate's waist, pulling her against him as he had a beer in hand while she had a glass of champagne. He was visiting his mom for her birthday party and was having the time of his life. Along with himself, Hecate, his mom, and his stepfather the room housed the rest of his big three cousins, Frank, Piper, and Leo, everyone with a drink in hand and enjoying the festivities. It had been a full month since the festival and his relationship with Hecate, simply known as 'Kate' to prevent any mortals from asking questions, and his life had changed drastically.

Every morning he woke up with his girlfriend in his bed, his chest having become her favorite pillow after a late night couch date of watching movies, and while she did head out to do other things she had practically moved into 'tentlantis'. Artemis had tried throwing a hissy fit before I pointed out that my tent was separate turf with its own flashpoint and if I wanted my girlfriend to stay with me in it then I would very well do so.

The only part of his life that had truly become complicated in the past month was his relationship with Thalia as she had been growing more and more distant ever since walking in on him and Hecate kissing in the arena locker rooms. Whenever he talked to her she would respond but she would try to end the conversation as quickly as possible and leave. When he teased her playfully her responses felt week and hollow and she quickly left those too. The only thing he could think of was that she had a crush on him and didn't want to hurt herself or his relationship with Hecate but he didn't think that could be it as she was a huntress, an eternal maiden who had willingly sworn away the company of men. Even now, at a party full of merriment and laughter, he could see the pain and emptiness behind her eyes that she was clearly trying to hide.

Before he could continue his train of thoughts the clinking of a spoon against a glass drew his attention as he saw his mother staring lovingly at Paul, both of them with beaming smiles on their faces as his mom called out "First off, I'd like to thank everyone here for coming, I know that all of you are busy due to your demigod duties but It means a lot to me that you all can be here. We may not all be related but I've come to see you all as family to me and that's why I have a piece of news that I'd like to share with all of you first.".

Blinking in confusion he stared at his mom and step-father as they smiled warmly at him while beckoning him over. When his mom grabbed his hand and placed it on her stomach he didn't connect the dots at first but then Paul happily said "You're gonna be a big brother Percy." And his world froze as he stiffened. Just as his mom and Kate were about to get concerned he laughed loudly and scooped up his mom, spinning her around as she giggled and everyone let out a loud cheer. For the rest of that night the drinks flowed like water, except for his mom's case, and merriment was abound, even Thalia's sadness seemed to fade away in the joy given by what happened.

As the night wore to a close he had become flat out drunk, as had the rest of his friends, as people crashed wherever an open space was. Deciding it would be a good idea to get himself and Thalia back to the hunt he hugged his still giddy mother goodbye, gave a hug to Paul, before grabbing Thalia and Hecate as he mist-travelled them back to Tentlantis.

The second they landed he saw the merriment slowly drain out of Thalia's face as her somber mood returned causing his heart to clench, pained at seeing one of the most important people in his life hurting so badly. Before she could leave he grabbed her and pulled her into a hug, clutching her tightly as he pleaded "Thalia, please. Tell me what's wrong. Why have you been avoiding me? What did I do to upset you?" while Kate watched them, a slowly appearing look of realization on her face.

At first she struggled against his arms, trying piteously to escape his grasp before she simply broke down and cried, going limp in his arms as she sobbed into his shirt. "B-because I've lost my chance!" Thalia sobbed out, confusing him greatly but he chose to remain silent as she poured her heart out, "I lost my chance at being with you!" at those words he froze startled by what his cousin had just told him while Kate nodded in understanding.

"B-being with me?" he asked in hesitant confusion "Y-you mean like how I am with Kate?".

Tears pouring down her face along with her mascara Thalia nodded, "I…I've loved you for so long but I couldn't tell you. When I first woke up from being in the Pine Tree you were the first one I saw and when I found out what all you went through to get me out I…I couldn't help but feel drawn to you. As I began to get to know you more and more I felt more of my heart belonging to you until I had truly, deeply, fallen in love with you.".

"Why didn't you say anything though?" he asked her in confusion clutching her close as he ran his fingers through her hair, trying to process all that he was being told.

"Because I saw how you looked at Annabeth," Thalia choked out "I heard how she would talk about you, and I saw how desperate you were to rescue her when she was taken. I knew that I wouldn't have a chance with you. That's the real reason I joined the hunt, not to 'pass up the prophecy', especially when it couldn't have referred to me anyway, the next last line being 'a single choice shall end _his_'. I just didn't want to be hurt anymore so I lied and joined the hunt. When Annabeth left you I felt a sudden jolt of hope, I still had a chance. When I heard you had run off I dreamt of being the one to find you, to comfort you…to heal you. But when Leo found you I knew I lost that chance and every time I saw you after that I was too scared to tell you. When you became the Guardian I…I thought that I might be able to find out if you felt the same way for me that I do for you but…but…".

"But then I started dating Hecate," he said softly as a new wave of tears burst forth from his cousin eyes, her body shaking from the force of her sobs as he held onto her "and you felt that there was no way my relationship with her would end.". He sighed as she nodded weakly, her body exhausted from pouring out her soul to him as well as from the alcohol she drank and the tears she shed. "But Thalia," he said softly as she looked up at him with bloodshot eyes "I don't want to lose what I have with you either. You're one of the most important people in the world to me, always have been, always will be. I can't lose having you in my life.".

"But I can't bear to feel my heart broken every day!" Thalia sobbed "You may think it will heal but it won't! Every time I've gotten hope it's been ripped away!". With those words Thalia seemed to lose every bit of restraint she had left as the tears poured out greater than ever and her cries wounded his very soul.

Before he could think of something, anything, to say to his broken cousin he felt a hand on his shoulder as he looked up to see Hecate hesitantly leaning over to embrace Thalia along with him, causing the daughter of Zeus to stiffen before his girlfriend's next words froze both him, and his cousin. "Thalia," Kate said gently "I can see how much you love Percy, but I love him just as much. I may not be willing to leave him…but I would be willing to share him.".

"S-share him?" Thalia asked hesitantly as he remained rooted to the spot in shock.

"I've been alive since the time when the gods still lived at the first Mount Olympus," Hecate said with a soft smile at the heartbroken huntress "I'm no stranger to the idea of polygamy as, back then, it was highly common. I can tell how much you love him and I have no doubt that if you had confessed before I did he would have said yes to you.".

Shaking out of his stupor he pulled Thalia a little closer to him as he picked up "You don't have to answer right away Thalia, the option is open for as long as you ne-…" he never got to finish as Thalia lunged forward and captured his lips against hers, her tears running across his skin as new ones fell from her eyes, only from joy rather than pain.

"Yes!" Thalia cried out, true happiness in her eyes once again, "Yes, yes, a million times yes!".

As he looked at the two women who had captured his heart he felt a sense of warmth envelop him as he smiled lovingly at them before giving them each a tender kiss. The rest of the night was a blur for him as he remembered Thalia decreeing that she renounced the oath of the hunters and was a hunter no longer before the three of them went to the bedroom. They didn't consummate their relationship but they did enjoy being with one another.

-End Flashback-

"Well Artemis is gonna kill me," he groaned out before smiling at the softly snoring women "but it is defiantly worth it.".

"It better be worth it mister," Hecate said as she cracked open an eye causing him to chuckle "if you said otherwise I might have gotten worried.".

"Wouldn't want that now would we?" he asked with a smile as he handed her a hangover potion, doing the same to Thalia after shaking her awake. "So," he asked once they were hangover free "how do we handle the fallout of the temper tantrum little miss moon is gonna throw?".

"Oh shit," Thalia groaned, the once deputy of the Hunters of Artemis dropping her face into her hands "she's going to kill us!".

"No she won't," Hecate assured them "for a few simple reasons. The first is that it would go against Zeus' decree and the Hunters would be disbanded. The second is that Percy bested both Gaea and Kronos in combat, something she could never do, Tartarus himself actually saw him and that bookworm as a bigger threat than the entire Olympian council…mostly him though as she isn't all that useful in a fight. The third is that if she tried something I'd help you two.".

"We'd need a new moon goddess." Thalia admitted with a slight wince.

"Come on loves," he said as he got up, pulling them both with him "let's get dressed and head to Olympus…I think it would be a good idea to get Zeus on our side _now_ before shit goes down.".

Two hours later Olympus towards the throne room, having taken time to get dressed and eat the glory that is blue pancakes. "So are there going to be any problems with your mother having a child now?" Thalia asked as they walked "She's not exactly as…young as she used to be.".

"A wedding gift from Poseidon," he explained "while Dad still loves her he knew that he could never be with her always and that she had fallen in love with Paul so he cast a spell on her that would allow her to have healthy children for several years, that way she and Paul could have a family of their own.".

"That's really sweet of him," Thalia said with a smile as they walked "doing all that for your Mom and Paul.".

"They're actually planning on asking dad to be the godfather," he said, remembering something his parents had mentioned the night before "I think he'll be thrilled.".

"Alright guys," Kate said as they approached the throne room "put on your game faces.".

Nodding he pushed open the doors to the throne room and saw Zeus on his throne, idly wondering if the king of the gods ever left the room for any reason other than to have kids. "Uncle," he said in greeting as he walked in, the king of the gods smiling widely as they walked in "we wished to speak with you about something.".

"I'm guessing Thalia admitted to being in love with you?" Zeus asked with a small smile causing him to gape in shock at his Uncle who laughed happily. "Aphrodite approached me after Thalia joined the hunt," Zeus explained "she was asking me to remove Thalia from the hunt so she could play with a love triangle of you two and Annabeth Chase. I told her 'no' as I forbade her long ago from having direct interference in the love lives of demigods but that she should keep an eye on the situation just to be safe.".

"Why would Aphrodite agree with that?" he asked in confusion "I figured she would have thrown a tantrum loud enough to be heard from Camp.".

"She was about to," Zeus admitted "but I pointed out that the lives of demigods are hard enough as it is…and then threated to give her daughters static hair for eternity.".

All was silent for a moment before they burst out laughing at the threat Zeus used to reign in Aphrodite "Uncle that's brilliant!" he said happily "We'll make a prankster out of you yet!".

"I'd prefer it if you'd keep this a secret between us," Zeus requested with a small smirk "if nobody knows I enjoy a good prank every now and then….then nobody will know that I'm usually the one who instigates the prank wars between Apollo and Hermes.".

After they promised to keep their Uncle's pranking habits a secret they asked him to help them deal with the fallout Artemis would ensue and, deciding to get the situation out of the way, Zeus fired his bolt into the sky to summon the rest of the council who all flashed in, one boy one. Some, like his father and Aphrodite, were able to tell why they were there and sent the trio smirks while others, such as Apollo and Hermes, simply looked confused.

"Why are we here father?" Artemis asked in irritation as she sent him a glare and Thalia a reproachful look.

"A couple of reasons," Zeus said with a nod "the first is that I want to make it clear now that any girl Percy enters into a relationship with is allowed to stay inside his tent but will need your permission to enter the hunter's camp.".

"Is that all?" Athena asked in confusion, the goddess of wisdom probably trying to puzzle out why Zeus had called a full council meeting.

"No," Zeus said with a shake of his head "I called you all here to get the fallout of the second piece of information settled.".

"Second piece?" Artemis asked with narrowed eyes, the moon goddesses' gaze turning towards him, Thalia, and Kate.

"My daughter, Thalia Grace, has decided to leave the hunt to enter into a relationship with Percy Jackson." Zeus said before the throne room was filled with yelling voices.

Finally though the loudest of them all, Artemis, screamed "I thought you were dating Hecate?! How dare you cheat on a woman!", causing the room to go dead silent.

"He isn't cheating on me." Hecate said with a shrug, causing multiple people to look at them in confusion

"So you and Percy broke up?" Ares asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"No," Thalia said with a small smirk "we're sharing him." Which caused Apollo, who had been taking a drink of water, to spit take in shock while the rest of the throne room, bar Zeus, Aphrodite, and his Dad, to gape at them in shock.

Before anyone else could say anything Artemis had her bow drawn and an arrow aimed between his eyes causing the rest of the council to shoot to their feet and stand in between him and the enraged goddess. "Point that bow elsewhere or I will run you through." His dad growled, the sea god's trident glowing with barely restrained power as the middle prong was aimed between Artemis' eyes.

"He corrupted one of my hunters!" the moon goddess screamed in rage.

"She only joined the hunt because she thought she couldn't be with him!" Aphrodite yelled, the goddess of love looking downright demonic as she defended him and his girlfriends.

"You lie!" Artemis screeched.

"She isn't lying Artemis," Apollo said in a surprisingly serious voice "none of them have. Thalia really does love Percy and has even before joining the Hunt. They confessed their feelings to each other and Hecate pointed out that the old ways allowed for Polygamy so they plan to share him.".

"How the hell did you know so much about this?" Thalia asked the sun god, backing away slowly.

"Prophecy is one of my domains remember?" Apollo asked with a snort "I had a vision yesterday morning of your confession…just didn't know when it would be.".

"Anyway," Zeus said, drawing attention back to the king of the gods who was staring in amusement at the standoff "I have given them my blessing and I want to let you know Artemis that any attempt to sabotage their relationship, by you or your hunters, and I will dissolve the hunt without any hesitation.".

Artemis looked like she wanted to protest but instead sent a glare their way and flashed off, followed shortly afterwards by the rest of the council who each wished them well until it was only them and Athena left. "Percy," the goddess of wisdom began "I was wondering…I was hoping…" she tried before he sighed and held up a hand.

"You want me to get back with Annabeth…right?" he asked the wisdom goddess who nodded "I'm sorry Athena but no. I don't hate your daughter but I also don't love her. I don't even know if we can still be friends with how she's been acting.". Athena didn't look happy but she nodded and flashed away, leaving just him and his girlfriends. "Well," he said cheerfully "why don't we go swing by my mom's apartment? The others might still be there and we can tell them the good news.".

**AN: Alright, that's two girls down. Next chapter we bring Khione into the story but she won't be joining the relationship just yet.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I'm sorry that this chapter is shorter than the previous ones and possibly not as good but I wrote the others when I had a good bit of inspiration for it. The main problem is that with most of my other stories they're all set in the canon timeline while this is after that so I have to make up events as I go along which makes it harder to do. I may end up switching this item on the cycle for the runner up if I don't feel satisfied with how it turns out.**

The REAL Guardian of the Hunt

Chapter 5

-Percy-

-Throne Room of Olympus-

"Do you guys know what the meeting is about?" he asked his cousins and some of their friends as they waited by the door, watching out for any of the other 'Generals' that might show up for the meeting that Zeus had called.

"No clue," Jason admitted with a shrug "just got an Iris Message from dad this morning saying that there was going to be a big meeting tonight.".

"Anyway," Hazel said with a shrug as she snuggled up against Frank "are we still going to try and have our 'road trip' this summer or will Percy being the Guardian interfere with that?".

"Zeus agreed that I could use some vacation time occasionally," he answered as he wrapped his arm around Thalia's waist "so he and Artemis came to the agreement that when I would take a vacation every few years Artemis would find girls from either camp that were thinking about joining the hunt but had yet to decide and allow them to 'intern' in the post. They would help guard the hunters during close combat situations and Hephaestus will provide a few automatons in case of an emergency.".

"Road trip!" Leo yelled excitedly, Calypso giggling besides her husband.

"It's a good think that Hecate found the spell that gave Thalia an older body," Nico said with a nod at the now twenty one year old Thalia "it would be rather awkward to have to explain to people why our twenty three year old cousin Percy is dating a fifteen year old Thalia.".

"I was three hours from being sixteen." Thalia pouted but he knew she agreed with Nico's point after they had run into a rather…disapproving woman on one of their dates before Hecate had found the spell.

"Hey Perce," Fink said after a moment, "You never said how the rest of Camp Half-Blood took you and Thalia being together while you're dating Hecate, or how your mom took it for that matter.".

"Mrs. Jackson put me through full blown interrogation before threatening serious bodily harm if I hurt Percy like Annabeth did," Thalia admitted with a shudder "and she looked like she could do it too.".

"Yeah," he admitted in embarrassment "I kinda taught her and Paul how to use a sword in case any monsters came after them…I never realized that most of my sword skill comes from my mom instead of my dad.".

"Seriously?" Hazel asked with a grin "That's epic!".

"Yeah," he answered with a wry grin "she actually killed a hellhound a few days ago and is planning on making my new little sibling a hellhound leather jacket for when they're old enough.".

"Why didn't she do that to Annabeth before?" Jason asked in surprise.

"She got psychological revenge on Annabeth," he answered "when she found out what happened…well you remember when Annabeth woke up to her bed filled with spiders after I…um…took a leave of absence.".

"Ran away to become super hermit." Leo read between the lines as he glowered at the General of Hephaestus "Yeah I remember hearing about it…wait…are you saying that was your mom?".

"She hired the Stolls to do it and provided the spiders." He elaborated.

"Not to self," Jason said with a shiver "don't piss off Momma Jackson.".

"But how did the camp react?" Calypso asked to get the conversation back to the question he had been asked.

"Well Annabeth had, at first, been pissed as she thought I was cheating on Hecate but when she found out that we were doing the whole 'sharing' thing she tried to get me to let her into the relationship." He said with a derisive snort.

"She just doesn't learn," Piper sighed in exasperation "a few of the guys in my cabin actually tried to find her a date just to stop her 'hunts' but nobody at camp was willing to go out with her. But what did the rest of the camp do?".

"Some like Annabeth asked to join," he said as he counted off the types of reactions on his fingers "some did spit takes, some glared at me out of jealousy, some glared at the girls out of jealousy, some congratulated me, and a few others asked for advice on how to start a harem.".

Before any of them could continue the conversation Zeus and the rest of the gods flashed into the Throne Room "Alright!" Zeus began "Let's get this meeting started.". Moving over to stand next to his father's throne he watched his Uncle, wondering what the meeting would be about as Zeus took a deep breath and began "Now I'm sure you're all wondering what I called you here for." Zeus said, getting nods of agreement from various gods and goddesses.

"Not really," a bored Dionysus shrugged as the wine god flipped through a magazine "I don't even see the point of coming to these meetings.".

"You come so I don't triple your punishment." Zeus deadpanned as the magazine instantly vanished and Dionysus sat up straight in his throne. "Anyway," the thunder god continued "I've decided to put the few gods that aided Gaea on a 'parole' of sorts for now to see if they're ready to be fully acclimated back into our society. To help with this each one of them will be assigned a handler of sorts who will watch them and decide when they're ready to be allowed to roam free.".

"How many gods are there to be put in this Parole?" Hermes asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Thirteen," Zeus answered "Khione, Calais, Zethes, Aigaios, Boreas, Aeoleus, Deimos, Phobos, Janus, Palaemon, Hercules, Phorcys, and Keto.".

"I'm guessing some of us are going to be handlers?" Athena asked with a raised eyebrow causing Zeus to give the smirk that he now recognized as that of a prankster.

"Oh yes," Zeus said with a grin that promised pain and suffering for those being put on parole "first off let's do the one that will cause the biggest problem…Percy. You'll be Khione's handler.".

"Um…what?" he asked slack jawed "That sounds like an incredibly bad idea Uncle.".

"For once I agree with...with the boy," Artemis forced the words out as if they were poison "why on earth would you make that decision?".

"Khione is one of the more powerful of the gods and goddesses being put on Parole," Zeus explained "and Percy not only has the power to deal with her but we can have Hephaestus add in a guest bedroom for her in his tent and even a cell if need be. Added to that if she got past Percy, Thalia, and Hecate she'd then have to get past you and the rest of the hunt.".

"So we're all added security." he asked warily, starting to see why his Uncle selected him to be the minder.

"Exactly," Zeus said with a relieved sigh "you and the hunt are the best chance of stopping her. Anyway, I was also hoping that you, Hephaestus, could act as the handler for Calais and Zethes.".

"Why me?" Hephaestus asked with a raised eyebrow, the smith god seemingly tinkering with some invention or other.

"A few reasons," Zeus answered with a shrug "the first is that they'll be miserable at your forges due to the heat which is extra punishment and the second is that I think it would act as a good dose of humility for the two of them. Possibly pound a thing or two into Calais' head besides Pizza and Hockey as well.".

And so the rest of the gods on probation were given handlers that were appropriate for each individual. His dad was given the job of handling Aigaios, the god of the Aegean, and by the smirk on his father's face he knew Aigaios was in for a rough time.

Phobos and Deimos were put under the eyes of Euphrosyne, one of the graces as well as the goddess of Joy and Mirth which he knew would be torture for the two trouble making gods of Fear and Terror. Added to the fact that he was sure Euphrosyne would limit if not outright ban them from using their powers was just icing on the cake and, to him, just punishment for the Chariot incident years ago.

He was beyond amused when Athena was declared Hercules' handler and, by her smirk, he knew that she planned on giving the most demeaning tasks possible to the son of Zeus turned god. He did have to sigh though when Artemis demanded that she be given Hercules to use as a slave and torture in honor of Zoe's memory only to be shot down by Zeus.

Palaemon, the god of sharks, was assigned Delphin, the god of dolphins, as a handler and he knew at this point Zeus was just trying to piss off these gods. Phorcys and Keto were assigned to work with Eurytion at Triple G Ranch in the hopes that it would allow them to see ways to appreciate monsters without causing massive death and destruction.

Boreas and Aeoleus were given to help lighten Hermes workload and he could tell that Hermes was both grateful and planning to run the two weather gods ragged. Who knows, maybe it will finally give the god of messengers ten seconds breathing room.

Finally Janus was assigned to Aphrodite to help with the beginnings, endings, and choices in a relationship in the hopes that the mischievous god could channel its efforts and powers into something more productive than just making life harder for demigods to amuse himself.

"When do I pick up my new ward?" he asked Zeus as the meeting was dismissed and people began to disperse, "And when will Hephaestus be able to upgrade Tentlantis?".

"I've already sent Hephaestus down to your tent to give it the upgrades," Zeus answered "as the one who built the damn thing he can get pasts its security system without a problem. You can also go pick up Khione now, she's in Hecate's palace with your other girlfriend.". Nodding his thanks to Zeus he turned around and left, making his way along with Thalia towards Hecate's palace.

Walking inside they saw Hecate talking to a woman he didn't recognize that had long pale blonde hair and silver eyes, "Percy," Hecate said with a smile when she saw him enter "this is your new…ward, Khione.".

"I thought she had black hair and brown eyes?" he asked, eyeing the new woman warily.

"I felt like changing my appearance Jackson," Khione informed him icily "I got tired of people recognizing me instantly and associating my appearance with the war.".

"My apologies Khione," he said with a slight nod, barley noting the slight surprise in her eyes as she kept her expression guarded "I'm sure that Zeus informed you of your new…situation.".

"He did," Khione said with a scowl "it doesn't matter that we were all forced to make oaths to never fight against Olympus again we are still forced to do this 'parole' of his.".

"Look I'm sorry but you made your bed when you sided with Gaea and now you have to lie in it," he told her bluntly "we'll try to make this as painless as possible but don't expect a whole lot of pity from us. You stick to your parole and avoid even toeing the line and I'll tell Zeus that you're safe to have on Olympus again, alright?".

"Very well Jackson," Khione agreed with a nod "I'll agree to your terms. I assume that we are going back to your 'tent'?".

"Yes we are," he said before sighing "and please don't call me by my last name, I prefer to simply be called Percy. Also, you don't have to talk so formally with us.".

"I'll keep that in mind…Percy." Khione said and he saw a flicker of confusion and something else in the ice goddess' eyes. Nodding he turned to Hecate and nodded as she flashed the four of them back to Tentlantis as he showed their new 'guest' around their home. Showing Khione her room and letting her know that she was allowed to decorate it any way she wanted, showing her the other important rooms and also telling her what was off limits.

"Stay out of our bedroom, my office, the vault, and the armory unless invited in by either myself, Thalia, or Hecate," he told Khione as they finished the tour in the game room "other than that simply don't break anything or violate your parole and you'll be good. Now, we're going to watch a movie here before turning in to bed, you can join us or do something else inside the house.".

"I'll…join you." Khione said, still stiff but he heard a hesitance in her voice that he could tell was about more than just the movie. Nodding he walked over to the movie cabinet only for Thalia to quickly grab a DreamWorks movie, Frozen, and pop it in causing him to pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation, knowing that his girlfriend had chosen that movie due to their new guest. He fell asleep as the movie played, Thalia and Hecate snuggling into his chest as they dozed but Khione stayed up to finish the film before she simply staid up and watched them, a longing in her eyes that his sleeping form never saw, a longing to belong.


End file.
